Tuesday 26 January 2016

Update Jan 2016 - New Luggie

My original Luggie has served me well, a superb piece of kit and worth every penny.

However, it's now five years since I bought it and I've not given it an easy life!

It's really designed for use on flat surfaces, smooth pavements or walkways outside, or indoor use and, as usual with any piece of equipment owned by me, I've pushed it to its limits and given it little or no consideration. Not for me the Sunday morning wash and polish with a valeting every month, no, I just use and use and use (or abuse, depending on your viewpoint).

It's been back and forwards to Greece as often as me and driven on rough roads as well as silky smooth airport concourses. It's been up and down hills, up and down steep Greek pavement ramps, across rough concrete patches, loose gravel and shady back streets. In fact, wherever I've wanted to go, its been with me, with hardly a grumble, even around the medieval walls of my home town, the pavements of which are crossed at regular intervals with wide shallow grooves to allow rainwater to flow across and which play havoc with the Luggie's otherwise calm constitution.

But the worst surfaces have been in Rethymnon where I spend a lot of my holiday time. The streets in this city have been gradually gentrified over the past few years. Main tourist streets and even the quiet back streets have benefited from this makeover. The rough concrete has been dug up and replaced with a variety of surfaces, from large paving slabs to smaller ones, from large concrete setts to smaller 100mm square ones.


The net result of this is, whilst making the streets look smart and easy to walk along, if your sole mode of transport is a mobility scooter with solid wheels and no suspension, you don't half get shaken about.

In fact I've seen me go to the supermarket and buy some double cream only to find, when I get back to my apartment, it's turned to butter!!

So what I'm really saying is, my Luggie has served me well, above and beyond the call of duty.

And so, it came as no real surprise when a fault developed. After all, even a Luggie has limits.

The first time it happened was a few months ago. While going round my local supermarket (a practice I reserve for early on the odd Saturday when it's quieter), I realised that I seemed to be sitting at an angle and upon further examination I found that the seat, which has two height positions, was twisted between the lower position on one side and the upper position on the other.

I left it until I got back to the car where I found that the seat locking mechanism was jammed with the seat in the upright position and I was unable to lower it. So I just loaded it into the car until I was able to look more closely at it when I got home.

I managed to fix it but then again, just last week, the same thing happened again.

This time, when I took the locking mechanism apart, I noticed a crack in the plastic base which no doubt contributed to the fault and was probably caused by all those bumps and rough roads and pavements I'd been racing about on. I ordered a second hand part from ebay but when I looked closely at the mechanism, it looked like a much bigger job than I'd thought.

And I just don't have the energy or dexterity to do these jobs anymore.

So I started to look for a used Luggie on ebay and I also began to check on Gumtree and Preloved. There was no shortage of used machines available, some from dealers with a short guarantee and others from private individuals and then I had a brainwave!

Why not ask Paul at Local Mobility, where I had originally bought my Luggie, if he had any second hand machines available.

And so I did - and he said that he did and what was my budget? I replied with a figure that I'd been thinking of and he asked if I would be interested in a shiny new Luggie if he took my old one in part exchange.

Well, I'd never thought of that.

After all, it would mean my old Luggie was recycled and I would get the benefit of a two year guarantee and a brand new machine, not only fit and ready to face the Greek roads on my holidays but also an updated version complete with speed controller which wasn't on my original Luggie.

I now use it every day in the house as my walking and balance have reached a point where I'm a bit of a menace to myself if I try to manage unaided. Fatigue also plays a big part and as I'm a lazy sod anyway, a battery powered set of wheels is a great help.

But, before accepting Paul's generous offer, I decided to have a look online and see what alternatives to the Luggie were available, just in case there was something either better or cheaper or both.

I did a full mornings research but I could see nothing I liked. Sure, there were now other machines out there and one or two of them looked pretty good, folding down easily and also with lithium batteries to save weight but..............

I decided to stick with the Luggie for various reasons.

One, and this is a small point but valid for me - some of the competitors had silly fancy controllers at the top of the tiller instead of the simple uncomplicated Luggie design which I prefer.

Two, I knew the Luggie, I liked the design and was very pleased with the build quality and the ease of use and I also was very impressed with the level of service and professionalism of Paul's company.

Three - and this for me was the most important point - the Luggie folds flat before it folds in two. This means that it can be left folded flat and in that position can be lifted into the car and I have a well established routine for doing so.

I put in in the boot of my car which was chosen because it had a loading platform which is level with the open door - no lip to lift the Luggie over. I simply lift the folded machine by its lighter end, the front, and place the front wheels in the car. I can then get hold up the heavier back end, either lifting it by the underside of the seat or the rear lifting handle and, using the principle of leverage, raise it onto the loading platform. Easy peasy!

All the other machines I looked at made a big thing of being able to simply fold their machines in half in some sort of clever scissor action and then being able to pull them along on wheels with the front tiller acting as a handle.

They didn't seem able to fold them flat so that, instead of being able to lever your scooter into the boot, you had to lift the thing in, all in one go.

Now all these scooters are lightweight compared with more smaller traditional lead acid machines but they still weigh 25 to 30 kilos and this can be a wee bit of a problem if, like me you have poor balance or poor leg strength or suffer from the sort of fatigue associated with m.s.

And besides, if you're using a mobility scooter, then why would you want to wheel the damn thing about? Just sit on it and fire it up!!

So I treated myself to a shiny new metallic red Luggie suppled by Paul at Luggie Scooters and I look forward to all my next Greek holidays, safe in the knowledge that I'm still able to get about and explore all those back streets as well as the main drags.

If you're heading that way, I may even bump into you.

Kalo Taxedi!

P.S.

The airport requirements for the Luggie seem to change from year to year and you may think that you've given them full details of the Luggie beforehand but you're always asked at the check in to give the details again, so I've printed out some cards which I carry with me and which the check in clerks are delighted to get.

A link to a PDF of the page of lables is shown below and this is up to date as of 2015.

Luggie Labels PDF